Fourth Test team

[Wolfs]

Shield form.

The selectors should have taken note of his Test form though, plus Ashwin's record against him.

He's made runs though. If he was in poor nick, he wouldn't have made runs. He did what was asked. Now he need to do what's asked during the Test Series.

I had Wade over Handscomb tbqh, so I don't get where the hate for Wade is from.

 

[Gough]

He is quite obviously a hell
of a better batsman than when he was in his first stint with the test side. Just needs another opportunity to flaunt it.

I'll done my tin foil and suggest that his cards might have been marked.

 

[HLM*]

I'll done my tin foil and suggest that his cards might have been marked.

Unfortunately i’d say you’re probably right.

 

[Kram]

I know his shield form was terrific but Smarsh will be right under the pump again now. Hopefully he has a big second innings.

I'd like to know the stats of batsmen that have scores under ten. I think his percentage would be right near the top.

Marcus Norf would be up there.

 

[TommyD13]

Was only just thinking about the Ashes squad and what it might look like come next year. Obviously going really early, but just keen to see how this develops over the next 6 months. I've elected for a 19 man squad whose names are all included below
Starting XI
1 & 2= TWO OF:
David Warner
Marcus Harris
Aaron Finch
Cameron Bancroft

3. Usman Khawaja
4. Steve Smith

5 & 6= TWO OF:
Shaun Marsh
Travis Head
Peter Handscomb
Mitchell Marsh

7. Tim Paine
8. Pat Cummins
9. Mitchell Starc
10. Nathan Lyon
11. Josh Hazlewood

Reserves
Alex Carey
Ashton Agar
Peter Siddle
Chris Tremain

I think it's very worthwhile having all those batsmen in the squad, with the banned trio all in there but needing extra cover for the obvious reasons. Also important to have 3 non-first-class warm-up games to ensure our batsmen can adapt as well as possible.

 

[HLM*]

Was only just thinking about the Ashes squad and what it might look like come next year. Obviously going really early, but just keen to see how this develops over the next 6 months. I've elected for a 19 man squad whose names are all included below
Starting XI
1 & 2= TWO OF:
David Warner
Marcus Harris
Aaron Finch
Cameron Bancroft

3. Usman Khawaja
4. Steve Smith

5 & 6= TWO OF:
Shaun Marsh
Travis Head
Peter Handscomb
Mitchell Marsh

7. Tim Paine
8. Pat Cummins
9. Mitchell Starc
10. Nathan Lyon
11. Josh Hazlewood

Reserves
Alex Carey
Ashton Agar
Peter Siddle
Chris Tremain

I think it's very worthwhile having all those batsmen in the squad, with the banned trio all in there but needing extra cover for the obvious reasons. Also important to have 3 non-first-class warm-up games to ensure our batsmen can adapt as well as possible.

Interesting squad you have. The only obvious changes i’d make would be Renshaw in for Finch, Burns for Shaun Marsh, Ahmed for Agar, Wade for Carey, Sayers for Siddle and Stoinis for Mitch Marsh though that one is more of a dream than reality.

Unfortunately there’s two weeks between the World Cup final and the first test so we’ve only got one practice match scheduled which’ll be australia v australia a. Pretty ridiculous preparation for us but that’s just the way it is.

 

[TommyD13]

Interesting squad you have. The only obvious changes i’d make would be Renshaw in for Finch, Burns for Shaun Marsh, Ahmed for Agar, Wade for Carey, Sayers for Siddle and Stoinis for Mitch Marsh though that one is more of a dream than reality.

Unfortunately there’s two weeks between the World Cup final and the first test so we’ve only got one practice match scheduled which’ll be australia v australia a. Pretty ridiculous preparation for us but that’s just the way it is.

Renshaw, Burns, and Wade we're all very close and I made calls on what I thought was most likely to happen, however cant say I agree much with Stoinis or Ahmed. Would consider the Sayers in, but probably for Tremain, as I think Siddle must be a lock for those conditions.

The practice match situation is rubbish however, although against Australia A at least we know we can be guaranteed a good solid match up.

 

[Art Vandelay_]

Said prior to the test Vic knew best, and were right to not kowtow just because Langer is a muppet...

Punter:

"I think this problem has been created by picking him to open in the UAE," Ponting told cricket.com.au.

"It's the easiest place in the world to be an opening batsman over there, as we know. And he did reasonably well over there which meant … they had to pick him to open the batting coming back here.

"What was the long-term objective to open the batting with him over there?

"Everyone knows he struggles a little bit against moving red ball and we have a series here and an Ashes series not too far away, and the ball's going to move around a lot when we're over in England.

"The shot we saw today is not what a good Test match opener should do third ball of the innings. The new ball on that wicket was always going to be the hardest time to bat and he went for a hard cover drive.

"Sometimes that can happen, but he's got a lot of work to do, I think."



Doesn’t absolve Finch of blame but also asks the hard question as to just WTF was Langer thinking

He’s a bloody middle order batsman FFS.

 

[Art Vandelay_]

Interesting squad you have. The only obvious changes i’d make would be Renshaw in for Finch, Burns for Shaun Marsh, Ahmed for Agar, Wade for Carey, Sayers for Siddle and Stoinis for Mitch Marsh though that one is more of a dream than reality.

Unfortunately there’s two weeks between the World Cup final and the first test so we’ve only got one practice match scheduled which’ll be australia v australia a. Pretty ridiculous preparation for us but that’s just the way it is.

Siddle should be on tour if his form holds to the end of this season. Killed it in county cricket last winter

 

[HLM*]

Renshaw, Burns, and Wade we're all very close and I made calls on what I thought was most likely to happen, however cant say I agree much with Stoinis or Ahmed. Would consider the Sayers in, but probably for Tremain, as I think Siddle must be a lock for those conditions.

The practice match situation is rubbish however, although against Australia A at least we know we can be guaranteed a good solid match up.

Why don’t you want Ahmad in? I think for a long tour like the ashes it’s essential to have a back up front line spinner in the squad and yours doesn’t have one in it so tried to fit Ahmad in where I could.

Siddle will probably be in the squad but i’d love to see what sayers can produce in the English conditions. He has the potential to be a dangerous bowing option for us.

I guess the positive is that the majority of our squad will be playing in the world cup so should be familiar with conditions before the practice match anyway.

 

[bullish23]

Finch isn’t good enough to open for Victoria or Queensland. Yet gets the gig for the national xi. Staggering.

Handscombe’s shot to get out was a symptom of too much hit and giggle cricket. Was he trying to guide the ball between 1st and 2nd slip?

 

[Wolfs]

Why don’t you want Ahmad in? I think for a long tour like the ashes it’s essential to have a back up front line spinner in the squad and yours doesn’t have one in it so tried to fit Ahmad in where I could.

Siddle will probably be in the squad but i’d love to see what sayers can produce in the English conditions. He has the potential to be a dangerous bowing option for us.

I guess the positive is that the majority of our squad will be playing in the world cup so should be familiar with conditions before the practice match anyway.

If Ahmed bowls well, he deserves a shot.

Sayers I think can do well in England but Siddle who's had amazing success in County will be in.

Also i reckon the pitches for the WC will be a lot different than the Ashes. You can't have a WC with low scores, it ain't good for revenue.

 

[Snarls Barkley]

Handscombe’s shot to get out was a symptom of too much hit and giggle cricket. Was he trying to guide the ball between 1st and 2nd slip?

Don’t think it was the result of T20 cricket, it’s more to do with his technique. He just can’t score forward of the wicket. He was scoring freely off Shami who was bowling a short length which played into his areas but as soon as Bumrah started bowling a full length to him he started to get bogged down and then tried to create something that wasn’t there.

It’s the same problem he had before he got dropped and he did try to get onto the front foot more early in the innings but the further he batted the more he got stuck in the crease. He’s going to have to find a way to counter it because teams are going to keep bowling full and bogging him down until he nicks off or gets wrapped on the pads. Not sure what the answer is. Obviously Smith bats very deep in the crease as well but he is unbelievable off his pads so is able to score whenever they bowl too close to him and has the patience to withstand spells where the bowl outside off.

 

[HLM*]

If Ahmed bowls well, he deserves a shot.

Sayers I think can do well in England but Siddle who's had amazing success in County will be in.

Also i reckon the pitches for the WC will be a lot different than the Ashes. You can't have a WC with low scores, it ain't good for revenue.

Ahmed has only played 3 matches this season but has taken 9 wickets at 16.55. Still, i’m pretty sure he lost his contract with the Vics earlier this year so can’t be rated too highly by the experts. It does however highlight how screwed we are if Lyon goes down with injury.

 

[Wolfs]

Ahmed has only played 3 matches this season but has taken 9 wickets at 16.55. Still, i’m pretty sure he lost his contract with the Vics earlier this year so can’t be rated too highly by the experts. It does however highlight how screwed we are if Lyon goes down with injury.

Yeah but he's back. All he can do is keep taking wickets.

The thing that screws up Australia is the scheduling. You can't have a split Shield season especially before and after a test series cause of the BBL.

What needs to happen is the BBL can be split (but revenue won't let that happen), or Australia loses so bad that CA take a hard look (SL are so bad that I doubt that happens)

 

[HLM*]

Yeah but he's back. All he can do is keep taking wickets.

The thing that screws up Australia is the scheduling. You can't have a split Shield season especially before and after a test series cause of the BBL.

What needs to happen is the BBL can be split (but revenue won't let that happen), or Australia loses so bad that CA take a hard look (SL are so bad that I doubt that happens)

He’s got to be picked first. Missed out on selection for this round unfortunately.

BBL makes too much money for CA to want alter the scheduling. Any other time of the year and the crowds and interest would diminish.

 

[Art Vandelay_]

He’s got to be picked first. Missed out on selection for this round unfortunately.

BBL makes too much money for CA to want alter the scheduling. Any other time of the year and the crowds and interest would diminish.

I rate Ahmed more than some Vics on here namely eth-dog but he’s comfortably 2nd banana for his state, and is 37 in February.

Despite playing well he’s rightly dropped every time Holland becomes available

 

[eth-dog]

I rate Ahmed more than some Vics on here namely eth-dog but he’s comfortably 2nd banana for his state, and is 37 in February.

Despite playing well he’s rightly dropped every time Holland becomes available

In fairness to him he's outperformed Ducky so far this season.

 

[Art Vandelay_]

In fairness to him he's outperformed Ducky so far this season.

He has. Losing his contract was based on the last two to three seasons and no coach would leave JH out for us.

He’s not the Ashes back up we’re looking for

 

[eth-dog]

He has. Losing his contract was based on the last two to three seasons and no coach would leave JH out for us.

He’s not the Ashes back up we’re looking for

Nah. But really, who is? Holland has shown he probably isn't test standard despite having three excellent domestic seasons, O'Keefe is struggling to stay on the park, Swepson is promising but has struggled for Queensland this season, Agar oddly missed the game today and has mixed test form at best, and Zampa isn't a FC cricketer's a-hole. Right now the best bet is Agar, and that's scary for Australian cricket. Need to pray that Lyon plays 5 tests over in England.

 

[HLM*]

In fairness to him he's outperformed Ducky so far this season.

What’s the go with Holland? He barely played last season and has only played 2 shield games so far this season?

 

[Art Vandelay_]

Nah. But really, who is? Holland has shown he probably isn't test standard despite having three excellent domestic seasons, O'Keefe is struggling to stay on the park, Swepson is promising but has struggled for Queensland this season, Agar oddly missed the game today and has mixed test form at best, and Zampa isn't a FC cricketer's a-hole. Right now the best bet is Agar, and that's scary for Australian cricket. Need to pray that Lyon plays 5 tests over in England.

No one at present.
Not even Pope is close, he needs to get guys out with his stock ball as well, just getting wickets with the googly won’t be as easy at international level

 

[barrackers]

Was only just thinking about the Ashes squad and what it might look like come next year. Obviously going really early, but just keen to see how this develops over the next 6 months. I've elected for a 19 man squad whose names are all included below
Starting XI
1 & 2= TWO OF:
David Warner
Marcus Harris
Aaron Finch
Cameron Bancroft

3. Usman Khawaja
4. Steve Smith

5 & 6= TWO OF:
Shaun Marsh
Travis Head
Peter Handscomb
Mitchell Marsh

7. Tim Paine
8. Pat Cummins
9. Mitchell Starc
10. Nathan Lyon
11. Josh Hazlewood

Reserves
Alex Carey
Ashton Agar
Peter Siddle
Chris Tremain

I think it's very worthwhile having all those batsmen in the squad, with the banned trio all in there but needing extra cover for the obvious reasons. Also important to have 3 non-first-class warm-up games to ensure our batsmen can adapt as well as possible.

Still a lot of questions and unknowns. Warner offers a point of difference and despite the issues he's an automatic return for mine. Khawaja tours due to his ability to open or bat 3. Harris, Bancroft and Renshaw are likely battling for one spot in the squad. Stoinis is the only other one challenging Mitch Marsh although we might not lose much by having Paine at 6 and Pattinson at 7. If Pattinson is fit he tours. S. Marsh needs a massive change in test form. I reckon he's too hit or miss though, so I'd look elsewhere anyway.

XI

1. Warner
2. Harris / Bancroft / Renshaw / Khawaja (if he's in the side he should open)
3. Smith / Khawaja
4. Finch (like Mark Waugh he looks a ODI opener and FC middle order bat) / Smith / S. Marsh
5. Handscomb
6. Head / M. Marsh / Stoinis / Maxwell / Wade / Paine (if Pattinson's at 7)
7. Paine / Pattinson
8. Cummins
9. Starc
10. Lyon
11. Hazlewood​

Squad
Batting

1. Warner
2. Harris / Bancroft / Renshaw
3. Khawaja​

4. Smith

5. Handscomb / Finch / S. Marsh (I wouldn't have him in the squad, but he can't be ruled out)
6. whoever's next best of Handscomb / Finch / S. Marsh

7. Head / Maxwell (if Head maintains his form Maxwell misses)
​

"All rounder"

8. M. Marsh / Stoinis
​

Keeper

9. Paine
10. Wade (adds middle order batting depth, but could keep if need be)
​

Quicks

11. Cummins
12. Starc
13. Hazlewood
14. Pattinson
15. Siddle
16. Tremain
​

Spinners

17. Lyon
18. Holland / Agar / another spinner


​

 

[King Elvis]

Apparently there is a massive disparity for Ashwin against left vs right handlers; and we’ve selected mostly batsmen that he dominates against.

 

[bluespooner]

Marnus Labuschagne should have been given more Tests - unlucky with some of his dismissals, bowled extremely well and fielded brilliantly in UAE. Would have one of the best batting techniques in the Australian team probably along with Khawaja.

If he was Victorian he would likely get the whole summer in the Australian team without performing.